Why Didn't You Take the Mistletoe Down?
by penandpaperx
Summary: STORY NOW COMPLETE. The final chapter is rather Booth centric. Just another The Santa in the Slush story. A missing scene between Brennan and Angela. We never did see Brennan remember to take the mistletoe down. BB
1. Chapter 1

_I'm totally jumping on the bandwagon with this one, but I just needed to get it out of my head. Just toss it on the pile with the myriad of other "Santa in the Slush" fics. _

"_Why Didn't You Take the Mistletoe Down?" A missing scene between Angela and Brennan. We never did see Brennan remember to take the mistletoe down. B/B. My first _Bones_ fic, so I apologize for anything out of character. Please read and review. Also, don't sue. I don't see how it would be worth it._

Angela pointed up at the mistletoe still hanging from Brennan's office. "Sweetie, what is _that_ doing here?"

"It's _phoradendron flavescens_,commercially harvested in the United States and marketed as mistletoe. I've been told it's very popular for decorating around the Christmas season," was Brennan's evasive reply. 

"It's also popular for kissing," Angela teased.

"Angela, it's a plant, people don't kiss plants."

"But people kiss under them."

A slight blush of color spread to Brennan's face as she tried to maintain her usual composure. Angela watched her friend's obvious discomfort and paused, helping herself to a piece of gum off of the desk. "Why are you taking my gum?" Brennan's voice rose an octave.

"Relax, Brennan, it's just a stick of gum. What's going on with you?" The silence between them filled the room and before Angela burst out, "You've been kissing under the mistletoe!" The look of guilt on Brennan's face gave her away and Angela continued, "With a certain FBI agent I presume." The increasing red in Brennan's cheeks only made Angela surer that her presumption was correct. She rambled on, "That is so sweet. Taking advantage of Booth's favorite holiday to seduce him. You should have done this months ago."

Having regained her voice, Brennan responded, "I wasn't seducing him!"

"Then what would you call buying strategically placed mistletoe and a fresh pack of gum?"

"I had to," Brennan was indignant.

A raised eyebrow and an "mmhmm" were the only replies she received. 

Trying to explain, "Caroline Julian said that the only way she would write the letter for my dad's Christmas would be if I kissed Booth under the mistletoe for five steamboats."

"Steamboats?"

"One steamboat, two steamboats…" Brennan demonstrated.

"You did it," Angela was elated. "You kissed Booth for five steamboats!"

"Actually it was more like eight." Brennan's blush returned.

"Eight steamboats, sounds like you two were really going at it."

"Angela! It wasn't like that. Caroline was right there."

"So then how was it?"

"He has my gum."

"Ooh."

"I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Then why didn't you take the mistletoe down?"

Brennan, for once, was unsure.

"I think someone's waiting for Booth to come back to her office." And with that insight Angela flounced out of Brennan's office. "Come join us for presents," she called behind her.

Brennan followed, leaving the mistletoe hanging from the ceiling.


	2. Chapter 2

_Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, it's just been one of those weeks where life tramples all over you. Thanks to __**fortune kookie 91, stainedglasshorse, tvholic68**__**Terapsina**__** forensicsfan, ElLivFan4Ever**__** Elliesmeow**__ and__** MyForbiddenFruit**__. Your reviews seriously were the highlight of this week. That may be kind of lame, but please keep reviewing. (Also, as always I don't own these characters, I'm just borrowing them for a while, so don't sue.)_

"Hey hon," Angela said to her fiancée, "can I borrow Brennan for a minute?"

"What? Why?" Brennan looked over from her lab area.

"Sure," Hodgins easily acquiesced.

Addressing Brennan, "You really need to get out of the lab. We're going for coffee."

"Can it wait? I'm busy now."

"No," Angela wasn't going to let her friend continue to avoid anything even remotely personal. "You need to stop waiting here for Booth. That mistletoe can't hang forever."

"I'm not waiting for Booth. I just have a lot of work."

"What's this about Booth and mistletoe?" Hodgins re-joined the conversation.

"Brennan kissed Booth under some and now she won't take it down from her office because she wants to kiss him again," Angela summed up the story.

"Actually I can go now," Brennan didn't want any more details about her and Booth shared with the whole lab.

"Great," Angela knew her ploy had worked.

"Was there tongue?" Hodgins called after them, not receiving a response.

* * *

Angela looked across the coffee shop table at her friend. "Okay Bren, I need an update. That mistletoe is finally beginning to wilt."

The holidays now over, Angela was becoming concerned. Brennan had hardly left the lab in days, throwing herself into all the obscure bits of back work she could find. And Angela hadn't seen a certain FBI agent hanging around.

"There's nothing to tell," Brennan almost meant it.

"So what, you two just kissed and that was it? That can't be it." Angela knew that nothing was ever that simple.

"I think we may have some unspoken agreement never to talk about it. I'm hazy on the details, but Booth certainly seemed uncomfortable discussing it with Dr. Sweets."

"How come he gets to hear more than I do?" Angela had spent years getting her best friend to confide in her; she didn't want some therapist to accomplish it in a matter of weeks.

"He didn't." Angela was relieved. "I said I had a crisis and Booth automatically assumed it was about the kiss. I wasn't going to bring it up at all."

"You wouldn't characterize kissing your partner, leaving the mistletoe up for a repeat performance and then getting cold feet about the whole thing a crisis?"

"It's not a crisis. It's just something that happened. It didn't mean anything." Brennan was less than convincing.

"Sweetie, you don't mean that."

"It wasn't supposed to." But it did, Brennan thought to herself.

"Oh Bren," Angela felt for her friend. Trying to get a sense of the situation, "What's the problem with that? Didn't he call? You haven't talked to him since your meeting with Sweets, have you?"

"No," Brennan smiled at the memory, "He and Parker set up a Christmas tree outside the trailer."

"Wow, that's surprisingly thoughtful of Booth. He totally wants you. What's the problem then?"

"It was just a nice gift. I'm sure he didn't mean it like that."

"It was gesture."

Brennan tried without success to change the subject. "I need to get back to the Jeffersonian. I have a lot of work to do."

Angela wouldn't let her off the hook, "You can spare another minute; Zach can handle it." Angela looked Brennan in the eyes. "Did you thank him appropriately?"

"I told him I loved my gift."

"Maybe you should show him," Angela said, only half teasing.


	3. Chapter 3

_Sorry it took me so long to get this final chapter up. At least now the story has a proper ending. Thanks so much to all who reviewed this last chapter: colonelheather, ElLivFan4Ever, Kia Grrl, GabbyWonka, beaglelvr93, Jay200484, YouAndMe Kelly and Mana. Please keep the reviews coming. I love them! (Disclaimer: You know I didn't get _Bones_ this holiday season, so just don't sue.)_

"Hey, Hodgins. Zack." Booth nodded in their direction as he entered the lab. "Is Bones around?" he asked.

"I think Angela took her out for a coffee break," Hodgins replied.

"I guess I'll just hang out here for a while." Booth's discomfort at being in the lab hardly showed anymore, but he was never one to spend much time there.

"You should go wait in Brennan's office," Hodgins said a little too forcefully.

Sheepishly remembering the kiss that had occurred there a week earlier, he told Hodgins, "I'll just chill out here. You won't even notice me."

"I really think you should wait in Brennan's office," Hodgins reiterated.

Now Booth was annoyed. "What? Are you two doing some super squinty experiment you can't let me in on?"

Zack finally looked up from his work. "I believe Dr. Hodgins is referring to the fact that Brennan still hasn't taken the mistletoe down from her office and Angela has postulated that she left it up because she's waiting for a certain male to join her under it."

"Oh."

Seeley Booth had taken the squint's advice and went to wait in his partner's office. Sure enough the mistletoe, only slightly withered, was still hanging from the ceiling. Booth felt as though the mistletoe was watching him, challenging him.

Booth didn't have a clue as to what he was supposed to do next. Really the trouble was that he didn't know what she expected him to do next. "Should I kiss her?" Booth wondered. The mistletoe seemed to say he should kiss her. And then there she was.

Nervously Booth addressed Brennan, "Hi, Bones. How was Peru?" He wondered if it was too impersonal a greeting.

Brennan lingered in her doorway. "I never made it." Brennan wasn't sure if she wanted to make the first move and so she kept with the easy questions, "How was Christmas with Parker?"

"It was great. It wouldn't have been the same without him." From the just-friends line of questioning, Booth wondered if he had been misreading the signs. What if the mistletoe was wrong?

But then, Brennan took a step into her office. "It was really great of you both to bring over that tree." Her voice caught, "I really did love it."

"I wanted you to," Booth smiled. "It's your office. You do know that you could actually enter it."

Brennan grinned back, taking a few more steps into the room until she was directly under the mistletoe. Not breaking his gaze, Booth took another step until he felt the mistletoe brush the top of his head. "Fancy meeting you here."

"I guess tradition dictates we should…" Before Brennan could finish her thought, Booth's lips had found hers. And this time it lasted well beyond five steamboats.

FIN


End file.
